PTC Urges NBC Affiliates to Drop 'The Playboy Club'

The Parents Television Council thinks the show puts a 'veneer of sophistication' on the pornography industry.

The Parents Television Council is taking an action to show its objection to "The Playboy Club". The organization has sent letters to NBC affiliates, asking them not to air the new NBC drama which is set to premiere this fall.

"I am writing to urge you, on behalf of the Parents Television Council's 1.3 million members, to preempt the program in your community," PTC president Tim Winter writes in the letter, whose copy has been obtained by Broadcasting & Cable. He deems that the show, which is set against the backdrop of Playboy Club in Chicago in the 1960s, puts a "veneer of sophistication" on the pornography industry.

Winter additionally states that individual members had asked stations about the show, but they received "canned responses" in support of "a sophisticated series about the transitional times of the early 1960s and the complex lives of a group of working-class women."

For stations which insist to air "Playboy Club", Winter warns that PTC would be watching and would urge members to file complaints with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) if anything was indecent. The peacock has not responded to the latest PTC backlash.

Previously, PTC had criticized NBC for airing a pilot "with Playboy in the name". The organization also called it a "blatant attempt to obliterate any remaining standards of broadcast decency" after learning issue that the producers asked all the actors to sign a nudity clause.

One NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, KSL, declared earlier this year that it won't air the new drama series. The show, however, has found another home in the city market on KMYU, which is MyNetworkTV affiliate.